Lightning-arrester.



* UNI ED STA'ldis PATENT OFFICE.

AZEL AMES', JR., OF NEW Y0 RK,N. Y.; ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF TO ASBURY o. WILSON, or

- WILKINSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

LIGHTNING-ARRE STER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 17, 1907.

To all whom it may concemf V Be it known that I, AZEL AMEs, Jr.,,a citizen of'the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Lightning-Arresters, of 'which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to lightning arresters of the kick-coil type wherein a current of high voltage, such I as lightning, sets up amagnetic field, the reacting tendency of which is to restrain the flow of current and.

cause it to jump to ground. One object of the invention is to provide for so assembling the parts of the device as to avoid danger of a sion, commonly known as bugging.

, take place.

A further purpose is to provide open insulation of improved form between the coil and corel These and other objects and advantages of the invention are fully describedhereinafter, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure I is a side elevation of the improved device. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view, taken on line 22 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view on line 33 of Fig. 1, and Ihg. 4 is a similar view of the frame and coil, Withjhe core and interposed insulation removed. Figs; 5 and 6 are detail views of the core, and Figs. 7 and 8 are similar .views of the mica insulation.

The frame of the device is formed of porcelain or other insulating material, and is constructed with the central or body portion 2, oval in cross section, and having base lugs or feet 3 ior securing the device wherever required. Projecting from the top of the frame are lugs 4 carrying binding device 5 and 6. Also, at one end of the frame is binding'device 7 connected to device 6 by fuse 8. One of the circuit terminals is connected to device 5, and the other terminal may be con- -nected either to device 6 or 7, depending on whether face of body 2 holds the convolutions of coil 10 sepafated and insulated from each other. Copper wire is preferably used. I

Within recess 9 is the combined core and ground terminal which, in the preferred construction, consists of a soft iron plate ll, which fits the back or rear part of recess 9, and the front or face plate 12 which bears flatlyagainst plate 11. Plate 12 is formed of a suitable conducting material, carbon being preferably used. Extending from the outer end of plate 11 is ground wire 13. At the open side of the frame the core is spaced from coil 10, this space being the distance the current must jump to ground. Within this space is open insulation consisting, preferably, of a thin perforated sheet 14 of mica which bears against the carbon, and between this sheet and the wire is the spacing element 15, also preferab'ly mica. As the clcctromotive force required to jump a given air space bears a certain relation to the width of that space, the electromotive force at which a discharge or ground will take place may be graduated or determined by the thickness of spacing element 15. In this way the device may be adjusted to meet different requirements or conditions. The

combined core and ground terminal, together with the insulating and spacing elements, may be readily slipped in and out through the openend of the frame, and thus the device may be cleaned and repaired without being removed from the circuit. After coil 10 is Wound, it is sprung or depressed slightly into the open side of recess 9, as shown in Fig. 4, and bears inwardly against the spacing element and core and holds them securely in place.

Plate 12 prevents fusion (commonly known as bugging) between the metals of the core and coil, and thus prevents the formation of a permanent ground. The perforated mica l4 affords sufllcicnt open space between the core and the coil through which the current jumps when grounding, and at the same time forms a screen which prevents the lodglnent of foreign matter, such as cinders, between the coil and core, avoiding the ground connection which such matter thus lodged might otherwise produce.

The operation of devices of this character is well understood by those skilled in ihe art. wire loading to the apparatus'protected by the arrcslcr becomes overcharged as when struck by lightning, a counter-e1cctromotive force is set up owing to the presence of the soft iron of the core, which, in turn, tends to restrain or retard the flow of the CU! rent and causes it to jump from the coil to the combined ground terminal and core and from thence to ground.

The advantages resulting from the invention reside in preventingpremature grounding'of the current, and in the simple and compact construction obtained by combining the ground terminal and the core.

When the circuit While I have shownand described the preferred embodiment of the invention, the same may be varied in many Ways without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.

" I claim 1. "In a lightning arrcster, the combination ofaframe body of insulating material havinga recess open at one side, wire coiled around the body and extending over the open side, and a combined core and ground terminal within the body-recess and spaced from the coil.

2. In a lightning arrester, the combination of a frame bodyof insulating material open at one side, wire coiled around the body and extending over the Open side, a combined core and ground terminal within the body-recess; and open insulation betwecn'saio'face and the coil.

3. In a lightning arrester, the combination of a frame of insulating material recessed, the recess being open at the end and at one side, wire coiled around the body and extending over the open side of the recess, and a combined core and ground terminal slidable through the open end of the body-recess.

4. In a lightning arrester, the combustion of a recessed body of insulating material open at OI e side, wire coiled around the body and extending over the recess, and a com bined core and ground terminal within the body-recess and held therein by the pressure of the coil.

In testimony whereof I i have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses AZEL AME'S, .111.

Witnesses:

H. E. GIFFON, Jr A. .T. NEWMAN. 

